


T2- Intimacy Without Sex

by thudworm



Series: Tony Stark Bingo 2019 [11]
Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: 5+1 Things, F/M, Non-Sexual Intimacy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-16
Updated: 2019-07-16
Packaged: 2020-06-29 10:39:49
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,256
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19828441
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thudworm/pseuds/thudworm
Summary: 5 times people assumed the intimacy between Tony and Natasha was sexual, and 1 time it actually was





	T2- Intimacy Without Sex

**Author's Note:**

> This is the 13th fill I'm posting for the Tony Stark Bingo (half way to black-out!) and also the fill that gets me my first bingo!

1\. It was the first time in over a month that Tony and Rhodey had an evening free at the same time. They had plans to get takeout and watch shitty sci-fi to pick apart and complain about all of the inaccuracies. 

“Sir, I regret to interrupt, but you asked to be notified when Agent Romanoff was returning from SHIELD.”

Today was only day 3 of a projected week long mission, so either things had gone very well and been dealt with easily, or everything had gone sideways and there would be a lot of fallout to deal with in the coming days and weeks. Tony was going to pull the details from SHIELD's systems when he had the chance, but he had a feeling he already knew what he was going to find. 

“So she’s already cleared Medical?” Tony asked. 

“According to the information I could find in SHIELD’s system, Agent Romanoff was not seen by medical personnel beyond an initial assessment during the extraction flight.” 

Tony was used to JARVIS’ creative answers to questions when he was trying to avoid revealing information, and he was used to Nat’s tendency to avoid Medical when at all possible. Not that he could throw stones in that regard, he knew he was just as bad.

All signs pointed to Nat being injured in some way, and likely in need of assistance from someone. Clint would be available, and Tony already had plans with Rhodey, but...

His indecision must have been obvious, because Rhodey just clapped him on the shoulder and told him to “go. Have ‘glad you’re alive and in one piece’ sex. Just spare me the details. Please.”

“Thanks, Rhodey. I’ll make it up to you tomorrow.” Tony said with relief. 

Tony could, and maybe should, have corrected Rhodey’s assumption about what he and Nat would be up to, but this was was the easiest excuse he had to go to her without violating her privacy.

The last thing he heard as the elevator doors closed was Rhodey calling out to him “you owe me one!”

2\. Natasha knew she was off her game right from the start. But, to her credit, Clint was only one up on her when they called time on their hand to hand sparring practice. Normally when Clint was the winner she would try to rile him up, claim that he only won because she let him, but not today. Today she was too tired to bother. 

Thankfully Clint had been called on for a marksmanship demo for some junior agents this afternoon, so they hadn’t had a loser-buys-the-winner-lunch bet riding on the outcome today, which meant she was free to head home to the tower and maybe have a nap on the couch. 

Clint tossed a bottle of water to her, but she was so distracted that she fumbled it. Natasha managed to catch it before it hit the floor, but the slip was enough to have Clint looking at her with concern.

“Everything okay?” Clint asked.

“I’m fine. Just haven’t gotten much sleep the past few nights. Tony’s been keeping me awake all night,” she replied. 

Clint face gave away that his immediate assumption was a sex thing, which was what she had deliberately left open as the obvious implication. She never lied to Clint, and he never lied to her, but not correcting a wrong guess wasn’t a lie. He was terrible at reading her poker face, and this time was no exception. 

What actually had kept her awake last night were Tony’s nightmares. At least once a week one or the other of them would wake screaming, visited by the sins of their past. Clint knew all about her nightmares, and she his, but Tony was a private man and it wasn’t her place to speak of them to others. It was best for everyone if Clint drew his own incorrect assumptions. 

3. ** _Playboy Caught In Black Widow’s Web?_**

_News of a romance between Tony Stark and Natasha Romanov (better know to most as Iron Man and Black Widow) has had their fans excited and desperate to know more._

_Photos of the pair together seem to demonstrate notorious playboy Stark as the dominant one, taking charge of situations and controlling when and where they go._

_However, an exclusive source close to the Avengers tells us things are very different behind closed doors! “She’s not known as the Black Widow for nothing,” our source (who wishes to remain anonymous) said. “She’s used to using sex as a weapon, and this relationship is no different. If Stark doesn’t obey her whims she makes him pay for it, or if he does what she wants- he’s rewarded for it.”_

Pepper knew all about Tony’s love of reading ridiculous tabloid media articles about himself, even if she couldn’t understand the appeal herself. But she was still willing to forward them to Tony when there was a particularly hilarious one, and this was a doozy. He couldn’t wait to show it to Nat so they could laugh at it together. 

It was going to be a fun running joke between them for months now. For years much of Nat’s job as a spy had involved needing to blend in and avoid attention, and it was hard for her to adjust to the new level of public focus as not just an Avenger, but the girlfriend of Tony Stark also. Which was why Tony did what he could to make himself the centre of attention, which the gossip rags were determined to spin into a scandal. 

Nobody expected Steve to be less than 110% sincere and earnest at all times, even though he could be the worst of them at trolling the press. It probably would take no effort to convince him to play along in public and ‘confirm’ the rumours from the fake source, and give the vultures a fake story to focus on for a while instead of harassing them for a new angle. 

4\. Movie night was a sacred tradition in Avengers tower, held every Thursday night without fail, barring an end-of-the-world situation. 

Each week there was a fight for who got the good seats, and who was stuck with the less preferable spots. Tony was a billionaire, so of course all of the couches were top of the range for comfort, but there was one chair in particular that was fought over so often that a rotation schedule had been set up, much the same as the process for who chose the movie each week. 

Tonight was Tony’s chance to decide what they all watched, and Natasha’s turn to control the comfortable loveseat. She did briefly consider making Tony’s welcome on the loveseat with her contingent on his selection of a movie she also enjoyed, but she wanted to be able to cuddle with her boyfriend more than she wanted to watch a movie that wasn’t sci-fi. 

She poked and prodded at him to shift until he was positioned in a way that allowed her to lay on top of him and snuggle together under the blanket she had dragged along exactly for that purpose. 

Less than 10 minutes into Star Wars (or was it Star Trek?) something hit her in the face. She lifted her head from where it was resting on Tony’s chest to see Thor and Clint focussing very intently on the screen. They had a bowl of popcorn sitting between them, which matched what she had felt hit her. 

Clint was the first to break under the weight of her stare, squirming in his seat. “It was Thor’s idea!” Clint tried to defend himself. “You know the rules- no getting up to anything in the common areas, especially when anyone else is around.”

That had absolutely not been here intention, but she knew that protesting Clint’s accusation would just reinforce it, so Nat just shook her head at him before laying back down, content to doze off with Tony’s arms around her. 

5\. “Aaaaaanthony.” 

Tony pasted on the most blatantly fake smile he was capable of, except Hammer was such an oblivious idiot he could never tell the difference, and turned to greet the biggest pain-in-his-ass to ever walk the earth. “Hammer,” he said through gritted teeth. 

There was nothing that could ruin Tony’s evening quite like Justin Hammer always managed to do. It was only Nat here with Tony at a gala Pepper insisted he attend, he hadn’t been able to convince any of the other Avengers or Pepper to tag along to make the evening more enjoyable (or at least less terrible), or to run interference between them. 

Tony would never understand just what Hammer’s fixation on him was about; if he never had to see his stupid face or hear him call his name like they were best friends ever again it would be too soon. Tonight, Hammer had cornered him at the bar and seemed to think a charity event raising funds for kids with cancer was an appropriate venue for ‘locker room’ talk. 

“Sooo,” Hammer said, “you bagged the Black Widow, huh? You gotta tell me your secret- how’d you do it?”

“I’ve always found treating women as though they’re people not sex objects helps,” Tony replied, then mumbled “of course not being a douche.” He desperately looked around the ballroom for an excuse, any excuse, to escape the deeply unpleasant conversation.

Hammer refused to take the hint. “What’s she like in bed, huh? I bet those thighs are a real killer, heh.”

Nat must have noticed his desperation from across the room, because she left the conversation she was having with a small group (they seemed like fans of the Black Widow, if those star-struck expressions were any guide) and made her way over to them. For some reason she pressed her body right up against him and clutched at his arm. 

“Mr Stark, I’m so sorry to bother you, but I have a problem that needs your immediate attention.” Oh god, that was her Natalie Rushman voice, what was she playing at? 

He trailed behind her, thankful for an escape from Hammer even though the idiot couldn’t take the hint and shouted after them, something about talking again soon. “Not if I have anything to say about it,” Tony muttered, loud enough for Natasha to hear it judging by her grin. 

Tony followed Nat’s lead as she lead them into the coat room. He still had no clue what was going on; it couldn’t be anything Avengers related, his phone would have sounded the alarm if it was, but no other possibility came to mind.

She slammed the door shut with a thud, then banged on it a few times before letting out a frankly obscene moan. 

It was all Tony could manage to not start laughing loud enough to give the game away. Nat was clearly enjoying herself- she was making some of the most ridiculously exaggerated faces even though Tony was the only one who could see her. 

After 20 minutes of fake sex, Nat finally decided to wrap it up by going for the big finale, putting that scene from ‘When Harry Met Sally’ to shame. 

“I think we’ve been here long enough and done enough schmoozing, don’t you? I think it’s time we went home,” Nat said, acting like there was nothing out of the ordinary about the performance she had just given. 

“This is why I love you.”

+1. There was one thing that ridiculous tabloid article had gotten right about Natasha- she was used to using sex as a weapon. But being with Tony couldn’t have been more different. When they were in bed together it was making love, as corny and sappy as that sounded. 

Natasha’s work as a Black Widow was sex as a means to an end, and Tony’s past as a playboy was full of meaningless sex with whoever was interested just for the hell of it, and for the sake of maintaining an image. 

But together. Together their lovemaking was just that. An expression of love. Soft kisses and delicate touches, eye contact and tender words. 

It was trust. They each had the scars that had come from trusting the wrong people and being burned, and no one could have blamed them for not being willing to risk it again. It had definitely been worth taking the chance. What they had together gave Natasha a solid footing beneath her feet, and let her feel safe enough to let down her walls in the aftermath of a bad mission, knowing Tony would be there to hold her together, without fear of judgement. 

Which was why she went to their bedroom, rather than the kitchen, despite the fact that she hadn’t eaten in almost 12 hours.

Tony was there waiting for her like she knew he would be. He knew today’s mission was one where she needed to play seductress to lead the bad guy into the trap waiting for him, and he knew how playing that role affected her. 

Natasha needed to erase the feeling of grasping and groping touches she could still feel on her skin, and Tony’s hands on her body were the only thing that could do that for her. 

After, as they were lying there, feet tangled together under the covers, Tony asked if she wanted to talk about it. She wasn’t ready yet, it was still too fresh, but when she was willing it would be because Tony’s support made all the difference. 

**Author's Note:**

> This was one of the first fics I started when I first signed up for the bingo, and it has been a real struggle to finish it at times, including scrapping it and starting over at one point. So, feedback on this one would really mean a lot to me.


End file.
